I thought about that for several minutes, deeply and truly.
Me: I will think on that or maybe call Alexis who is an attorney now working with Theresa and knows Ellie but is removed and professional.
Me: Thank you, Creed. You don’t give yourself enough credit. You are a good man.
Creed: I’ve committed enough sins that I never paid for. I want to do better and give back, that was the whole point of the EMT program since I can’t ever practice law again.
Me: Could you clerk? Help out in a law office?
Creed: No one sane will take a former mob attorney and I have limits of what I can handle too. I used to be the fancy attorney handling it all. I want to pay for my sins, but killing my soul clerking after all the hard work I put in—I’d rather clean toilets forever. Seriously.
Me: I’m sure your birth parents are proud of you from where they sit next to the gods. I would be to have such a son who works hard to pay for his mistakes—many who weren’t his when they basically brainwashed you as a child.
Creed: That’s why we click. You were brainwashed too. It was just the brainwashing of the whole world back then and you were forced to stay in it longer.
He wasn’t wrong. He definitely wasn’t wrong. I wished him a good night and was glad when he told me that he had arrived home safe.
I sat up a bit longer and thought about what he’d said and then decided to text Alexis asking if she could meet with me before I had lunch with Creed. She was up as well and replied that she didn’t feel comfortable getting in the middle of my cases when she’d already upset Theresa but promised to at least hear me out when I said it wasn’t professional.
It made me extra nervous the next morning when there was a tight air around her and it was clear she didn’t want to be there.
“I apologize for bothering you,” I whispered, disappointed in myself. “This was clearly a mistake.”
She sighed and waved me to stay seated, sitting across from me. “Well, I’m already here, so at least tell me why you contacted me.”
Why was everyone so harsh toward me besides Creed? I quickly blinked back tears. “Can you please be unbiased and not hate me so much?”
She was quiet for several moments. “I don’t know because I adore Ellie and have known her for so long. I’ll try.”
“I really have no one I can talk with besides him,” I whispered without meaning to.
“You mean the mob lawyer?” she drawled, disgust in her tone.
That angered me. “You don’t know what you’re talking about and what he’s been through,” I snapped. “None of you understand us and are so quick to judge.” I pushed to my feet, ignoring the shock all over her face. “Fine, Ellie and Theresa can stay in the dark and hate me. I didn’t want to tell them anyways, but Creed said if it was him, he’d want the truth.”
She grabbed my arm before I could leave, stronger than me, but suddenly Xavier was there ready to interfere. Alexis made note of it and let me go, nodding to him that things were fine before meeting my gaze. “Give me a break too, Aurora. I’m Ellie’s friend and you did something unthinkable to her. I fight for good and Creed fought for the mob.”
I opened my mouth to defend him but then sighed. “It’s not my story to tell, but you are a smart enough woman to see something wrong with a lion who grew up with wolves and became their lawyer if you looked into him, yes? No red flags there?”
“Okay, I’m the bitch because I didn’t pay that much attention and wrote him off. But if he’s pushing you to tell Ellie something he thinks she needs to know, even if she’s being a bit stubborn on learning the truth about the past, I’m liking him better. So please, sit, and I will stop being a bitch.” She let out a slow breath when I didn’t move. “I’m sorry.”
Fine, I could accept that and took my seat, Xavier moving back to his position. “I need to know you won’t just tell either until I’ve had more time to accept my daughters might learn of this.” I sighed when she opened her mouth. “I see Ellie as my daughter. She thought me her mother. Just—everyone stop correcting me when I gave everything for her!”
This was so stupid. Why did I keep hurting myself for everyone else? Creed was right and it was time to start being selfish and try to have a life worth living instead of just survivingor existing. I wasn’t my family’s punching bag to abuse anymore to keep Ellie and Theresa safe.
Horror filled me when I realized I’d said that all out loud and Alexis had heard me.
“What do you mean you were abused to keep Ellie and Theresa safe?” she whispered, something in her eyes that I couldn’t decipher. “Why would you do that? You didn’t care enough about them to run with them or—”
Tears blurred my vision as I rolled up my sleeve and showed her what was on my right arm just above my elbow. “It’s amagical brand. It’s put on every Graves girl when they’re born. It’s so the head of the family can alwaysfind us. If I ran with them, they would have beenfound. I told them both that Icould notrun with them.
“My father still has a map with my name on it to track me. That’s how Andrew knew to come here instead of where Theresa is in London suing him. Itried totell them that, but they didn’t want to listen to why I didn’t run. I still tried to run later because I heard of a witch in Spain who undid my cousin’s brand. That was when…”
I shook my head. No matter what, I didn’t want Ellie or Theresa knowing I probably lost my immortality. They would only forgive me out of pity or something then and I didn’t want that.
“Okay, first, yeah, Theresa needs to know that as your attorney because that’s super illegal. Like seriously, and she needs that map,” Alexis whispered, reaching over and lowering my sleeve. “But you weren’t coming to talk to me about this today. What did you want to ask me today?”
I wiped my eyes and then opened my mouth before closing it again. It took me two more tries, but then I managed words. “They are both unaware of things I did to protect them or how…”
